The Sound of the Suburbs

The red-faced militaristic taskmaster Tom Coughlin made his name coaching the Jacksonville Jaguars with Mark Brunell as his partner in crime. If you missed Brunell's 50-yard hurdling scramble to win an important postseason game, go to the Internet. It was a thing of a beauty.

Now, however, Captain Tom has a better QB and is on another mission. His Giants not only whupped a good Atlanta team last week, they went in to Lambeau Field on Sunday and destroyed the defending NFL world champions 37-20. If it wasn't for the zebras' clear partisanship, it wouldn't have been that close.

An obvious first-half fumble by Green Bay was not called, even after review. A politically correct and noxious roughing-the-passer call on Osi Umenyiora to a Green Bay drive alive ... pathetic. Team Coughlin kept going and put the Ubangi Stomp on the champs.

Here's saying they go to the Bay Area next Sunday and put the whupping stick on the Niners, whose brilliant comeback v. New Orleans reminded us all why this is the game we Americans love above all.

The Jints will prevail in S.F., and then go to the big dance to meet Baltimore, which could be problematic. If Joe Flacco plays the game of his life, the Ravens make Edgar Allan Poe proud. If he doesn't Eli, has more rings than his brother.

If I had to put money down, I'd bet on Eli.

There is just something about this team.

And while Eli is the main stem the real reason is Tom C.

The most revealing moment today was when Lawrence Tynes shanked a kickoff out of bounds, giving Green Bay first and ten at its 40. Most coaches -- including the old Tom C -- would have been in Tynes' face, lambasting his sorry ass.

Instead Tom was clapping his hands, shouting support. This will payoff in spades when Tynes makes a big kick next week and/or at the big dance.

Tom Coughlin, a military brat to the casual watcher, is none other than the new Vince Lombardi. He is the best coach in football, with all apologies to the Harbaughs and The Hoodie.

He has learned to handle his players, love them, discipline them, lead them.

He and Eli Manning are about to make history. They will beat SF and advance and probably clip the Ravens leaving EAP reciting "Ulalume" in his sleep. Because Tom Coughlin is the f-ing Man!

Not to slight Eli. It fascinates me how a great QB like Eli can succeed without Plaxico Burress or another Pro Bowl receiver. Eli has Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Mario Manningham, Travis Beckum and Henry Hynoski. It reminds me of the 1969-70 Knicks, which had great players but was even better as a team because of the close-knit way they played together en route to the promised land.

This team has outstanding big men in the trenches -- Chris Snee, Jason Pierre-Paul, Umenyiora, David Diehl -- a solid tight end in Jake Ballard who replaced stud Kevin Boss, one unsung hero after another. They are hot at the right time. They are going All The Way.

My only concern is Baltimore, an equally hungry and overdue team. Still, I expect NYG to win it all.

This trio of receivers ... wow. Nicks has a knack for making a catch and shedding tacklers. Cruz can get open anywhere anytime. Manningham just has the gift. His catch v. Atlanta in the end zone to put it away was a thing of beauty.

Ahmad Bradshaw ... his run today at the end of the first half against the Packer was off the charts, leading to the Hail Mary that gave the Jints all the momentum going into the intermission. And there was Brandon Jacobs at crunch time, going left off the take then changing course right all the way to the TD that put the game away.

God, I love football. Not to mention the New York Football Giants.

Who is this Tim Tebow clown?

Doesn't everyone know he was lucky to do a thing in college at Florida?

I mean you know he can't throw the ball?

Come on ... those two BCS titles meant nothing ... he would have done nothing without the greatness surrounding him, right?

So what he got drafted? He won't do squat in the NFL. He doesn't belong there. Duh?

Oh, so they put him in there over Kyle Orton, big whoop, eh? And you watch, Orton will come back and beat him someday, wanna bet?

So he got lucky and won a game starting, so what?

Hey, anybody could go 7-1 with that defense at that altitude right?

Told ya! They lost three in a row. Who's right now?

They have zero chance against the Steelers. How much you wanna bet?

No freaking way this 20-6 halftime lead holds up, you moron?

What I tell ya: The Steelers will kill 'em in OT, just watch.

That ... that stiffarm was illegal, right?

Well, no way they beat New England. Wanna bet???

It's a new year in the world. 2012. A fresh start. A clean slate. A blank page.

And yet here in the good old USA, it is different. This is indeed the land of the free, so unlike many other countries around the world.

Here we celebrate Christmas. Here we play the national anthem before our sporting events. Here we commend achievement, respect performance but most of all we all live for the F word: FUN.

The angry people around the globe who hate us and want to kill us will never have what we have.

We have Tim Tebow, Drew Brees, Maurice Jones-Drew, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the New England Patriots, the Green Bay Packers. We have The Hoodie, Rex Ryan, The New York Post, The Drudge Report, talk radio, ESPN.

We have Kobe, LeBron and D Wade, Madison Square Garden, Derrick Rose, CP3, Blake Griffin, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and the San Antonio Spurs.

We have Derek Jeter and the Bronx Bombers, Lou Piniella (come back Sweet Lou!), the Dodgers and the parking lot attendant, Tim Lincecum and The Beard, the Cubs and the Bosox.

We have holidays of love: Mother's Day, Valentine's Day. We have Halloween where we scare one another in good spirits, candy for the kids, elaborate costumes and parties celebrating -- that word again -- FUN.

Terrorists only know negativity, only know keeping the other guy down. They believe in death. We believe in Life and all its possibilities. That is why we are Great.

We celebrate the new year when the clock strikes 12 on the last night of the year. We embrace, kiss and high-five into the next chapter of our lives. We look out for the other guy, do the right thing.

We aren't perfect, to be sure. But aside from the aberrant sector of society endemic to any civilization by and large when we err, we apologize. Detroit Lion loses his temper and stomps on an opponent's arm but quietly calls him later to apologize. Pitcher beans a hitter but inevitably reaches out to make amends.

We are not perfect, we Americans. But we are damn straight the greatest place to live work and play.

We drive to work, ride the train or the bus, stroll down the sidewalk minding our own business. We don't go looking for trouble but when it comes -- wherever it is around the planet -- we are the first to offer a helping hand.

It's not easy being A Giant, as Wilt always said. But it's what we know, what is right.

We embark on a new year full of promise and hope. Promise that we will retain our integrity, disdain our detractors. Hope that we will somehow make it all right.

Sports is so emblematic of everything great about America. Win, lose, but play the game, then shake hands and go on. That is our way. That is our credo. That is our life.

God Bless America.